The quarterfinal of the 2019 ATP Brisbane International will feature the second seed Kei Nishikori against the Bulgarian No. 1 Grigor Dimitrov.
Watch & bet on Kei Nishikori v Grigor Dimitrov live at the Brisbane International with bet365 here* on Thursday, January 3. The Nishikori v Dimitrov quarterfinal match will begin around 7.30 pm local time (GMT +10).
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Nishikori v Dimitrov Head to Head
The two players have met each other a total of five times on the circuit so far. Nishikori leads Dimitrov by 4-1, with his last win over the Bulgarian coming in the 2018 Italian Masters. The Japanese won that match in three sets.
Interestingly enough, the only time Dimitrov managed to defeat Nishikori came in the final of the 2017 ATP Brisbane, where he won the match 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 to lift the title.
A Good Start for the Two Players
Dimitrov and Nishikori have started their 2019 ATP Season on a winning note in Brisbane.
The World No. 9, who enjoyed a bye in the first round, started his campaign against the American Denis Kudla. Needless to mention, Nishikori won that match comfortably with 7-5, 6-2 in an hour and 19 minutes. He won 84% of his first service points without going on a single break point.
As for Dimitrov, he has been seeded sixth for the tournament and faced Yoshihito Nishioka in his opening game. He won that game in straight sets and set up the second round clash with John Millman. The Bulgarian hardly faced any difficulty in that game as he moved on to win that one 6-3, 6-4.
Their Previous Season
If we are to consider the previous season of the two players, then it comes as no surprise to see Nishikori come out on the top. The Japanese ended the year as the World No. 9 with a win-loss tally of 43-21. It is definitely a feat, given that he started the year outside of the top 20 and even moved out of the top 30 at one point.
After recovering from his injuries, he started the year in a couple of Challenger events before switching to the ATP circuit. He had his first breakthrough in the Monte-Carlo Masters where he lost in the final to Rafael Nadal. Later that year, he reached the quarterfinal at the Wimbledon and the semifinal at the US Open. He was also a runner-up in Vienna and Tokyo that helped him qualify for the year-end ATP Finals.
Dimitrov, on the other hand, spent a large part of 2018 struggling with his form. With the exception of a few events, he mainly lost in the early stages in most of the tournaments he played in. This is quite something because he started the year as the World No. 3 and finished it as the World No. 19.
He reached the quarterfinal at the Australian Open and the final at the ATP Rotterdam before incurring a severe drop in his form. As a result, he ended the year with a tally of 24-19, with his last event being the Paris Masters.
Nishikori v Dimitrov – Who Will Win?
It is fair to say that the two players are evenly matched. The Bulgarian has been in a good form while Nishikori is going strong in Brisbane. However, this fixture will be the true test for the two athletes. We can expect this to go either way but it wouldn’t be surprising if the outcome is decided in three sets.
You can watch & bet on Kei Nishikori v Grigor Dimitrov live in the ATP Brisbane International with bet365 on Thursday, January 3.
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